Wednesday we had the amazing privilege of starting to build a house for an elderly lady who lives just a couple of blocks from the church we work with. We know her because we have taken her food each year here. She is at least 85 years old, but no one, not even her daughters, knows for sure. She’s very small and frail, and when you hug her all you feel is bones. For years she has lived in this small, dirty shack, cobbled together from old bricks, and random pieces of wood and tin. A small electric light allows them to see inside the windowless dwelling. We can imagine her joy when soon she will finally have a comfortable place to live. So part of the team spent the day digging a trench in hard, rocky soil into which the footer will be poured. The rest of the team wired up rebar which will reinforce the footers and form the support columns for the walls. This was extremely hard, dirty work, and the team was exhausted! Yet after supper they all pulled together for over two hours of sorting through the various things we brought: gifts for our sponsor kids, supplies for our events for kids, teens and adults, toiletry items (which Dayspringers donated) which will be handed out when we distribute food.

This morning (Thursday) we did a lot more rebar while others went out on “food distribution.” We take along 6-7 of our team along with a translator and we go to the homes of people in the church or those people the church is trying to reach. We go into their humble homes, converse and pray with those living there, and present them with 1-3 bags of basic food items and toiletry items. It is amazing how much the people open up with us, even though they don’t know us very well and most of us don’t speak their language. Many tears were shed today.

In the afternoon we did 2 children’s events in the church, and something amazing happened that showed me the importance of what we do here…but we’ll save that story for tomorrow. We’ll also save our pix for tomorrow because our internet connection won’t let us send them right now.